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But, today, amongst the younger folks that I work with, the subject of cars never comes up. I find that strange, especially since I work in a large engineering lab. A heated discussion on the relative merits of Mac vs PC might occur, but rarely a word on cars.

Perhaps, physical travel is no longer important or enjoyable.

I'm 26 and an engineer. To blanket my peers in a mildly offensive stereotype: they're all a bunch of spoiled children from yuppie families whose parents bought them their first and second "safe and reliable" cars and now that they're adults, their wives tell them what they can and can not drive. It's a sea of Honda Civics, Hyundai Sonatas, and similar absolutely uninspired cages. Their excuses are: "it'll last forever" but they end up replacing them every 2 years and ~60k miles; "it gets great gas mileage" but my motorcycle gets better; "the wife wanted more of a family car" but she already has her own.

.... they're all a bunch of spoiled children from yuppie families whose parents bought them their first and second "safe and reliable" cars and now that they're adults, their wives tell them what they can and can not drive. It's a sea of Honda Civics, Hyundai Sonatas, and similar absolutely uninspired cages. Their excuses are: "it'll last forever" but they end up replacing them every 2 years and ~60k miles; "it gets great gas mileage" but my motorcycle gets better; "the wife wanted more of a family car" but she already has her own.

I want to reiterate the part you cut out: it's an offensive stereotype steeped in sarcasm. In fact, it would be the negative light of my peers situation. I'm sure they'll say it's not that bad.

No, actually, I think it's pretty spot on. But then, not everyone's a throwback like you, Nathan. And I mean in that in the most positive way.

I had heard there was a survey taken where teenagers overwhelmingly said they'd choose internet access over the use of a car. The bottom line is that with everyone and everything "connected" these days, the need for transportation isn't as great. I grew up in rural North Dakota where my closest buddy was 5 miles away. There were no "home" computers, so to communicate, it was either telephone or face to face. I got my first motorcycle at 13, a Honda CB100. It provided me the ultimate freedom to go where I wanted, albeit illegally. Most of my friends also had small motorcycles. It was awesome.

I remain constantly amazed how condescending some posters on this forum are towards anything that diverges from their own narrow interests. I see it when folks try to compare their Airhead to a K1300 (or vice versa). I see it when folks try to diminish others who ride something other than a BMW (how dare they). I see it when Luddites think technology is only for their lesser idiots. I see it when folks compare the value of their hobby (motorcycles) to the values of anybody elses different hobby. And whenever I see it it tells me far more about the intellect and values of the poster than it tells me about the person or thing the poster is trying to put down.

Last edited by PGlaves; 10-29-2012 at 04:50 PM.

Paul Glaves - "Big Bend", Texas U.S.A
"The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution." - Bertrand Russellhttp://web.bigbend.net/~glaves/

When I see a pic, or better yet, the real thing like the car, trailer and bike in the picture I can't help but be in awe of the person that went through the work to build them. As for me, I used to work on cars out of necessity when my wife and I were first married, drove older vehicles, and couldn't afford mechanics. That said, I never developed a love of working on vehicles.

To build a custom car or motorcycle, you not only have to have a nack, but also the desire to do so.

I've worked on cutting edge technology in the computer industry for over 30 years. Because I'm close to it, I'm not easily impressed by it and in fact tend to want to get away from it since it's "work" to me. It's also probably why I'm impressed when I see an old car fixed up to be a rod pulling a custom bobber. It's not something I would consider tackling, yet someone else did it to perfection.

I remain constantly amazed how condescending some posters on this forum are towards anything that diverges from their own narrow interests. I see it when folks try to compare their Airhead to a K1300 (or vice versa). I see it when folks try to diminish others who ride something other than a BMW (how dare they). I see it when Luddites think technology is only for their lesser idiots. I see it when folks compare the value of their hobby (motorcycles) to the values of anybody elses different hobby. And whenever I see it it tells me far more about the intellect and values of the poster than it tells me about the person or thing the poster is trying to put down.

But, Paul, I have an issue, and it always comes back to this.....If someone tells you they design "world class" products of "uber" level performance, don't you think they would be similarly passionate about other things? Especially, their hobbies? I just find it hard to believe that someone can turn that aspect of their personality off and on.

Some folks are artistic, some tends toward the analytical, and then there are the adventuresome. But, in most cases, those are personality traits that carry over into all aspects of a person's life.

Perhaps, within the engineering world, we should push the young to appreciate the creative, instead of focusing on the analytical / diagnostic. But, it's much easier to teach an analysis technique as opposed the rationalizations that lead to a good design.

Some folks are artistic, some tends toward the analytical, and then there are the adventuresome. But, in most cases, those are personality traits that carry over into all aspects of a person's life.

Perhaps, within the engineering world, we should push the young to appreciate the creative, instead of focusing on the analytical / diagnostic. But, it's much easier to teach an analysis technique as opposed the rationalizations that lead to a good design.

I disagree, you need both to really bring out the best in all. A balance I would advocate.